An employee of a securities firm handles transaction orders. The VN-Index fell to a three-year low on March 23 - PHOTO: THANH HOA

HCMC – Heavy selloffs by foreign investors pushed the VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange to around 666 points today, March 23, the lowest since early 2017.

Closing the session, up to 363 stocks on the HCMC market declined, including 193 stocks hitting the floor prices, while only 40 others managed to rise. The benchmark VN-Index lost a whopping 43.14 points, or 6.08%, against last Friday at 666.59.

Since January 30, the VN-Index has tumbled a combined 28.4%, going in tandem with stock markets worldwide given the fast-spreading Covid-19 pandemic. During the period, foreign investors have offloaded a total net value of more than VND10 trillion worth of local shares.

Saigon-Hanoi Securities in its report said latest movements of central banks across the globe to pump trillions of dollars to stabilize the financial system seem not enough to boost market sentiment for investors.

In Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance has cut charges for nine securities services such as stock trading and deposits, position and margin management, auctions, and listed covered warrant management. The ministry’s move aims to ease difficulties for investors and boost market trading liquidity since the pandemic has caused severe losses for investors and wiped out billions of dollars from the market.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also fell a massive 5.33 points, or 5.24%, at 96.46. Many large caps dropped strongly, such as lender ACB and petroleum firm PVS.